Aragami (2003)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Shôichirô Masumoto (story) and
Ryûhei Kitamura (writer)

Release Date:

29 April 2004 (Germany)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Horror

Plot:

A raging god of battle and a master samurai duke it out in a series of sword fights in a remote temple.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Sword Fight | Swordplay | Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Takao Osawa	...	The Samurai
Masaya Kato	...	Aragami / Tengu / Miyamoto Musashi
Kanae Uotani	...	The Woman
Tak Sakaguchi	...	The Future challenger
Hideo Sakaki	...	The Samurai's Friend

Runtime:

Germany:70 min (Fantasy Film Fest)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo | DTS

Certification:

UK:15 | Germany:16 | Australia:M

Company:

Amuse

Trivia:

Yukihiko Tsutsumi and Ryûhei Kitamura each finished their contributions to the short film anthology Jam Films (2002) in record time. As a result producer Shinya Kawai gave the two directors a proposal to each create a feature length movie with only two actors, battling in one setting and filmed entirely in one week. The undertaking was called the Duel Project. This was Ryuhei Kitamura's result and Yukihiko Tsutsumi's _2LDK (2002)_.

Quotes:

Aragami: Ninja stars are for losers.

Movie Connections:

References Versus (2000/II)

Samurai Vs God Of Battle In A Stylish Setting.

Aragami is Ryuhei Kitamura's film which was shot with a few rules in some sort of Japanese Director's Challenge (The other was Yukihiko Tsutsumi's 2LDK). Some rules were that the films must be of feature length and shot within one week (Aragami was filled in 8 days). The movie must take place within one room with 2 competitors fighting to the death.

Originally, I found out about this movie after watching 2LDK and found out about this challenge. I thought it was an interesting concept and would like to see how some of today's American directors could tackle such a project. Although I liked 2LDK, Aragami was simply the better movie. At times, the style and dialog (or lack of) reminded me of something from Quentin Tarantino.

The very basic plot is that Aragami (Masaya Kato), who, incidentally, is the God of Battle, challenges a samurai (Takao Osawa) to a fight to the death. Aragami is tired of living and can not commit suicide nor die of old age or other natural causes. He must be killed in battle, as he is the God of Battle. He immortalizes the samurai by feeding him his deceased friend's liver and the fight was on.

Surprisingly, this basic plot did not seem to drag on for too long and was just about the right length. The fight scenes, mostly involving swords, were pretty good and at times, the dialog was humorous. This is a good recommendation if you know what you are getting yourself into.